This is a superb smoke. A little tangy, a little tart, just a touch of spice and a very mild sweet addition as well. Citrus, figs and raisins. In the second half a little bread and earth. Everything a Red Virginia should be (plus the added sweetness). Has a little creaminess to it. Has enough strength to easily satisfy. Just a pure pleasure.

Medium in body and taste. Added sweetness is very mild. Burn is near perfect.

James B. Russell, Inc. used to import this fine tobacco, and it no longer does. [*] Pity. It is an excellent, classical flake.

The broken ["Scotch"] cake inside the tin is the colour of fig pudding. It smells like it, too. The taste is mild, savoury, spicy, not too sweet. There is none of the bloating of the heavier stoved plugs, no topping, casing, shaving-soap smell or anything else, but the natural, zesty mildness of Queen Virginia.

I smoked Brigade in a new corncob, which brought out the full airborne elegance of this tobacco, proving, yet again, the essential greatness and nobility of corncob pipes. Heartily recommended.

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[*]? I am told that all these Wessex tobaccos are now imported by XYZ Direct.

When it comes to straight red Virginia that's meant to be smoked instead of blended, there's not a lot of competition - for me it came down to McClelland's 5100 or Wessex Brigade Classic Virginia, and Wessex won.

It's ready-rubbed, easy to maintain, cool smoking, and less sweet. Rich, deep, complex, earthy flavors all the way through, it makes me want to bake bread.

It's quite a well broken flake, there's only a small proportion of the blend in need of further rubbing. The smell from the tin suggests a sharp topping of some kind, maybe citrus. Mine was a touch too moist, but not damp enough to avert having a bowl from the fresh tin.

The smoke doesn't taste like the usual Virginia blend, it has more depth to the flavour. The initial part of a bowl carries the sharp, slightly acidic, citrus note that emanated from the tin. It doesn't taste, in any way, cased, but gives lots of natural Virginia sharpness. This soon calms down giving way to a sweeter style of Virginia, with some dark fruit and bready notes. I've read a few comments about the temperature being too high, but I can't see a problem with it, even if I forcefully 'chug'. It gives a burn that has a medium speed, requiring very little attention.

The nicotine: mild to medium. Room-note: very pleasant.

I could see myself cellaring some Classic Virginia for when the urge for a Virginia takes me. Highly recommended:

One of the better broken flakes that I have smoked . Looks and smells very nice upon opening . I needed to rub it out a little but it packs and burns well . Best smoked in at least a group 4 sized pipe this tobacco will give you a long smoke full of really good Virginia flavor . Much less harsh than some other red flakes I have had , this is sweet down to the last puff .

This is an eye catching broken flake, of beautiful tan and dark brown hues. A true and simple straight Virginia, it has a fresh grassy smell with only a faint note of natural sweetness. Slightly moist in the tin, it is nonetheless easy to pack and it lights up pretty well. The flavor is somewhat muted and unpretentious. It lacks the rich, herbal sweetness of other Virginia flakes (very different from, say, Old Gowrie, Brown Clunee of Hamburger Veermaster), but it is still very palatable. Sober, down to earth, it somewhat reminds me of Astley?s 55 and McConnell?s Scottish Flake, though smoother. If not smoked with care, it does have a tendency to bite and, if pushed, it can burn rather hot. Other than that, a very nice straight Virginia, prepared with all the care and craftsmanship of the blenders at Kohlhase & Kopp(incidentally: I got mine at Cupojoes, NY).

I took a semi rubbed out flake and rubbed it out completely. The tobacco lit easily. This is a lovely red Virginia that tastes delicious, with no sharpness. It burns beautifully to the bottom of the bowl. Although I would describe the strength as mild to medium, it is very satisfying and tastes of quality tobacco. I rub it out completely,which I find releases the flavor. Smoke it slowly and you will be rewarded with a delicious cool smoke. It remains mild, with little nicotine strength and no loss of flavor from start to finish. Also excellent with a little perique added. I also like to mix this 5 to 1 with Wessex Brown Flake for a delicious taste experience. Rubbing out the flakes completely produces a milder smoke which I prefer.

Red Virginias are a hit or miss with me. I like most of them, but many don’t like me. It must be a body chemistry thing. Classic Virginia is a hit as it is smooth and sweet and didn’t ever bite me, even when pushed. I do think that there is a little topping on this, but either way, it is very tasty. I have smoked this fully rubbed out and as is. It isn’t as rich as the Brigade Campaign flake, but still worth a few tins in the cellar. I should also add that my wife, an occasional pipe smoker herself, finds this to be the only Virginia that she enjoys. Until recently, Wessex blends seem to have flown below the radar, at least my radar. Classic Virginia will be wonderful with age. I intend to find out.

I must say I am happy I bought this one. This is, as advertised, a dark Red Va Flake and it is good. The tin aroma is, mostly, of figs and good ol' matured VAs. It packs well, lights up well and smiokes well. I don't think there is any other kind of tobaccos besides a bit of lemon Va, here and there. I am not sure if there is a very light top note added to Classic Virginia. It seems like it at first, but it vanishes so quickly I am just wondering if I dreamed this. It is rich and the nicotine content is at the minimum level to make me happy. Be careful, as it is an all Va mixture, not to push it. Smoke slowly and then, you will be able to enjoy all the flavours without your tongue paying for it. Smoke too hard and quickly and you will lose all the flavours and your tongue will get it.

Medium brown to dark in color, this is definitely a broken flake but it's broken almost to ribbons rather than the "flakelets" I'm used to when something is touted as a broken flake. No problems with the cut. Tin aroma shows a maltiness with a hair of fruitiness. Kind of a different aroma. This loaded and lit easily.

The best news is that I bought this tin about 6 months ago along with a tin of the Curly Cut, and this is considerably better than Curly Cut... not that it would take much to better that blend. Taste-wise, I found this a bit too sweet to be simply red virginia, so I'm guessing there is a bit of lemon VA as well, or more likely, a sweet casing. Thankfully, it doesn't intrude. Although I found this blend to be far from the classic that its name purports it to be, it seems to be a perfectly serviceable virginia with some bread and light tea notes and a fair bit of sweetness that comes off just a bit north of natural. This could be an all-day smoke. When I overpuffed to see how this one behaves under duress, it nipped me a bit but still retained its flavor. Not a lot of complexity to this one but a nice straight-forward, honest flavor. I liked this one but won't buy it again. On the other hand, I would bet this one ages quite nicely.

I lucked into a stash of this at a tobacco store that dates all of their price tags, and it was dated 090, which translates to September 2000 (and still had the prices from back then). I picked up 4 tins of this and upon opening the first one was greeted with sugar crusted broken flakes, with the hypnotizing aroma of hay and dried figs. This tobacco smoulders in a pipe at a perfect burn rate, delivering deliciously sweet notes of buttered popcorn, bread, and a hint of mild cigar-like character. This is a truly outstanding Virginia. I have no idea what it is like when it is fresh, but nearly 12 years of age have treated this weed well. I am literally hooked on aged Virginias at this point, and if I find any more of this I am going to stock up.

Upon first opening the tin of this tobacco, the buyer is greeted with a nice, medium-colored broken flake. The aroma is attractive, with fruity overtones. The tobacco itself is slightly on the moist side for my tastes. The charring light of Wessex Brigade Classic Virginia is a bit problematic. I usually get a good char with a couple of passes of the butane flame, but this blend took me several more. In fact, after tamping one of the bowls I found that I needed to re-char and re-tamp before I could get a decent burn. However, the flavor of the charring light is quite nice, with a really interesting fruitiness coming through. The early flavor is nice, but puff lightly! While there is a nice sweetness to the tongue, it could be because of this sweetness that the smoke seems almost excessively hot. Tongue bite in the first quarter of the bowl seems like a real possibility unless you sip at the smoke rather than puff it. I also had a bit of trouble keeping one bowl lit during this part of the smoke. Deeper into the bowl, the hot nature seems to lessen considerably, yet the sweetness remains. Some of the fruity overtone also disappears, making the flavor a bit more one-dimensional. The overall taste isn't as creamy as some Virginias, but is quite pleasant. Toward the bottom of the bowl I found that some of the sweetness disappears. The flavor is still that of a decent Virginia, but somehow muted a bit. This changes, though, at the very end of the smoke, where the fruitiness surprisingly reappears and the sweetness returns as well. All in all, Wessex Brigade Classic Virginia is about average. There doesn't seem to be anything special about the smoke, and I don't expect to go shopping for it. There are many, many fine Virginias on the market today which are a better selection than this blend.

I love this tobacco! It has a sweet, buttery taste that deepens as the smoker progresses through the bowl. I think this is the sweetest Virginia that I have yet smoked, and I burn through a tin of this stuff quite quickly. It is more or less my go-to smoke. Go, buy, and smoke the hell out of this sublime leaf. I am going to burn some now.

This is good stuff. Being my first foray into straight red VA, I think this could be a journey I will enjoy. A tightly packed broken flake. Smells of tangy vinegar(not ketchup), hay, and fruit....but not fruit flavoring. This is not topped or cased in any way. The moisture was just right, but the tin is also in excess of 5-6 years old, so it may have adjusted itself along the way. This stuff was SWEEEEEEET. Candy sweet, but also earthy, and with a special creamy richness I have found only in a few tobaccos. It never once gurgled in my Savinelli Goliath and smoked cooler than any VA I have ever known. The nic hit was a bit of a surprise, even with slow and judicious sipping to stretch the bowl out beyond an hour of smoking time. Did I mention that not once did I have to relight? It was fill, tamp, light, tamp....no relight! This was no one trick pony today either. It kept changing back and forth between a toasty, buttery, nutty flavor and this sweet, burnt sugar, flavor like on top of creme brule'. I plan to put the hurt on this tin as it makes me want more as soon as I finish a bowl full. Only problem with that is how quickly the vitamin N caught up with me....but I must admit, I DID have two group 5 bowls in 3 hours time.

Exquisite and complex Viriginia which taste of hay, orange peel and green apples throughout the bowl. It reminds me a lot of IRC Flake, and both are two of my favorites Virginias. The Wessex product is more fit for a thoughtful smoke, as it is a little more complex than Iwan Ries' masterpiece.

Although Classic Virginia is a better than average straight Virginia, I can give it only a two star recommendation as there are just too many others from which to choose. Much better bet.., Brigade Campaign Dark Flake

Tin: Nice wide-mouthed pancake tin; an almost completely rubbed out "natural flake" pretty much ready for packing, dark brown and tan, having an overall dark chestnut hue with a standard red VA hay scent. The strands are supple but not moist.

In Omnia Paratus. Another English concept by a German company.

Packing & Burning: Packed straight from the tin, it packs fairly easily, and surprisingly, lights with one match.

Aroma & Taste: Mild and unremarkable. It is vaguely sweet. It reminds me of McClelland's Blending Virgina, BCV being a little milder and softer. After this first bowl, the rest of the tin produced a woodsy, stoved walnut aroma.

Strength: mild

Room Note: mild-medium woodsy cigarette

Overall: Wessex' BCV gives a reasonable idea of what red VA is like. Recommended for that purpose. 3.4 stars.

Not sure what to make of this one. Not the greatest tobacco, but not bad either. Not overwhelmingly flavorful, not intricately layered, not deep and brooding, but not lacking either, in any way.

This weed impresses me as a good solid middle of the road tobacco. Seems to be mostly red virginias, but I detect some lighter and darker bits in the tin. It is rubbed out but not overly so. The tin aroma is straight tobacco, and quite nice as tin aromas go. As a matter of fact, I could sniff this one all day long, as it smells wonderful.

Upon lighting, this is not a highly remarkable smoke. But it is an excellent, hard working tobacco, that just tastes like a good honest virginia smoke. Sure, there are more varied and exotic and fuller tobacco's than this one, but there is something about this that keeps me coming back. Perhaps it is its unpretentious honest and hardworking flavor. No tricks, no holds barred, no high flying shenanigans, just good honest tobacco flavor, that gets better and better as the bowl progresses.

And for all this, a rating of highly recommended, not for what it doesn't do, but for what it does so simply, so easily, and so elegantly!!

Christmas Cheer 2003 (CC) is a red Virginia made from a 1998 Old Belt crop while McCranie?s Red Flake (RF) was made from a 1996 North Carolina crop. CC and RF are both medium-to-full-bodied.

CC fails to deliver the consistently deeper red Virginia flavor that RF offers. While CC has bursts of RF?s consistently dusky red Virginia flavor-a flavor that in comparison is both darker and deeper than a signature brown Virginia, Rattrays Brown Clunee-such bursts are more atypical than constant. This is not to say that CC is not an enjoyable tobacco but simply that in the realm of red Virginia, RF is the winner.

RF?s tin notes state that softness is this tobacco?s chief characteristic. While I don?t disagree with this statement, I would add that RF?s deeper, richer flavor outdoes the competition. One wonders how the considerable tobacco wisdom of McClelland, whose most notable entry in the Virginia arena, its Christmas Cheer series, allowed itself to be content with anything less than a product just shy of perfection. Yet perhaps this has something to due with the time constraints of finding fine leaf in time to process it and still meet Christmas Cheer?s traditional release at the RTDA show.

We then come to Wessex Classic Virginia (CV), medium-to-full bodied, blended by Kohlhase, Kopp und Co. It has more in common with RF than CC and is comprised solely of mature Red Virginia. It has less flavor than RF but I tend to believe this a choice of the blender, not a flaw. It throbs with the rich, basal note of a curing process designed to produce a no-nonsense, straightforward, aged tobacco. Little complexity in comparison to CC, the most complex of these three tobaccos-if any Virginia can be called complex-just a delicious, singular, deep, red Virginia flavor. In comparison to CC, it has little of that tobacco?s grassy, reedy flavor components.

A really good example of a red Virginia. My sample is several years old; in fact it was imported by James Russell, rather than XYZ, the current importer. I enjoy the no nonsense, straight forward flavor. There's nothing complex about this blend, just honest Virginia favor. It's not too sweet or too strong. It could easily be an all day smoke. I like it best with my morning coffee.

For me, it's one of those tobaccos that if it was the only blend I could smoke, I would be happy, but if I never smoked it again, I would be okay too.

Another nice job by the German blender K&K and one of the best red VA flakes that I've found since the room aroma was judged more favorably than others. I found it not overly sweet but with a natural, VA taste. Packing improved after slightly drying the tobacco but lighting was easy and the smoke needed little attention and burned evenly. An enjoyable smoke that straight VA fans should try.

A beautiful Red VA flake- not much else to say! This is a high quality tobacco and it has all of the qualities of other straight red VA's. This is comparable to Marlin Flake, Red Ribbon, No. 27, and any other great VA. It reminds me of variations of the same theme, kind of like wines are. If you like Va tobacco you need to try this and see what you think. The burning characteristics are great and the flavor is elegantly rich. Quite a find, it is too elegant perhaps for all day consumption, but great for those special moments.

Sweet Red virginias here. Aged and pressed and almost rubbed out. The dark brown color is like a chocolate cake. The tin aroma is melow fermented red ginny. Packs well but may need more rubbing out. It does arrive a little damp so leave it open over night. It tastes like naturaly sweet Virginia.It is mellow and superb in all.